Paper

No, I’m not here to trash paper. I’m here to discuss different usages of paper and the ones that are more likely to become quick trash. The recent Digital Book Printing Conference hosted by Book Business was a very interesting event with plenty of great presentations, facts, and figures. In particular, Marco Boer of IT…

UK printers have warned of rising paper prices, but say they are experiencing a welcome return of business from domestic publishers thanks to "rapid" advances in digital printing technology and current exchange rates. Speaking at the Future Book conference hosted by Canon at its Oce R&D centre in Poing, Munich, last week, Andy Vosper, deputy…

Remember paper? Memos to sign. Maps to fold. Letters to write. Calendars to flip. Wistful paper executives remember. They’ve watched e-mail, annotatable PDFs, digital calendars and paperless billing diminish more than a third of the copy- and writing-paper business in recent years, spurring mill closures and eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs. But now paper…

It seems the love affair between hard-copy books and the reading public wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. Hence, the tendency to curl up next to the fireplace with a good e-reader is becoming more and more commonplace.
Digital books have certainly made their mark on the trade publishing side. According to BookStats 2013, which is co-produced by the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group, e-books-driven by adult fiction and children's/young adult-have grown 45 percent since 2011 and now constitute 20 percent of the trade market.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) presented Edwards Brothers Malloy with its 2013 Business Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding paper recycling programs. The award was presented to John Edwards, President and CEO, and Bill Upton, Vice President of Operations, at the Book Manufacturers’ Institute Spring Management Conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina on April 29th.

The Guild (formerly called The Bookbinders’ Guild of New York) was formed in 1925 by a group of 35 craftsmen who met to discuss significant developments in bookmaking. Today we are a volunteer organization with membership of more than 500, from the ranks of all type of publishing staff, vendors and freelancers. We sponsor educational trips, hold monthly informational programs and help to raise money for the Literacy Assistance Center. In 20 years we’re very proud to have raised over $320,000 for the LAC.

Last week was our biggest annual event—the 27th annual New York Book Show. Each year entries are submitted from around the country for books published in the last year. Entries include either covers/jackets or complete books, and are separated into categories. Just within “Children’s Trade” we have “picture book”, “young adult”, “pop-up”, “covers and jackets”, etc. Judges who are expert in specific areas volunteer their time and expertise.

Then in the Spring we show off the winners and have a big celebration.

With almost 10-million copies already sold and still a bestseller 12 years after it was first released, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is the definitive opposite of a rare book. But there is a new edition of 350 signed copies currently housed in the office of a Vancouver environmental group that collectors will surely notice. That’s because the entire edition is printed on paper made in part from agricultural waste.

Martel enthusiastically joined fellow author Alice Munro, who signed 50 waste-based copies of Dear Life in the same cause: saving forests…

A book with pages the size of the eye of a needle has been printed in Japan, the publishing company said Wednesday, with each tiny page showing a microscopic flower. The publisher, Toppan Printing, also said the 0.75 millimeter (0.03 inch) pages were impossible to read with the naked eye.

The company, which prints everything from business cards to a laminated packaging material using biomass polyethylene film, has been making micro books since 1964.

Toppan said it would be applying to Guinness World Records to claim the title of world's smallest book, currently held by a 0.9 mm volume published in Russia.